


crackle

by anons



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anons/pseuds/anons
Summary: Jung Sungchan, Zhong Chenle, and the infamous wine glass incident.
Relationships: Jung Sungchan/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 20
Kudos: 134





	crackle

“Excuse me,” says someone, prompting Sungchan to look up, “excuse—hi, you waiting for someone in that classroom?”

Sungchan nods.

“Oh, okay. Well, I am too, but I have to leave in a bit because my next class is on the other side of the campus. If it’s alright, can you catch someone for me?”

“….sure?”

“Great! There’s this kid called Chenle. He’s like a walking teddy bear—cute, cosy-looking and all that,” he says, pulling out his phone and rolling his eyes when he sees zero notifications. “He’s terrible at checking his phone too. Can you tell him practice is cancelled today? Say it’s from Lee Donghyuck.” He smiles winningly like he’s running for office. “What’s your name again?”

“Jung Sungchan.”

Donghyuck startles. “Sungchan?” Then, he looks at Sungchan almost reverently. “As in the same Sungchan who broke a wine glass in Chenle’s house?”

“I—well,” Sungchan stammers, “I guess?”

Donghyuck looks at the classroom then back to Sungchan. “You’re waiting for Chenle, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

Donghyuck smiles so wide it looks like it hurts. “Oh!”

Rewind a few days ago and Sungchan is in Chenle’s house. Flushed to the roots, glass shards all over the carpet. The wine seeping through the carpet is redder than his face and more expensive than anything he’s ever owned in his life.

“Sorry,” he bumbles, “Sorry, I didn’t—”

“It’s fine, Sungchan.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, really,” Chenle laughs. “Wow, you’re almost as clumsy as Jisung. Although if Daegal jumped on my face I’d probably drop my glass, too. Let me see.” He reaches over, careful fingers coming to touch Sungchan’s scarred cheek. “Jesus, Daegal, we need to get your nails trimmed.”

Daegal barks happily.

Chenle insists on tending to Sungchan’s face before cleaning the disaster on the floor. Lightly patting a wet cloth on Sungchan’s cheek, he clicks his tongue and says, “You’re gonna need to come closer because I have short arms,” and Sungchan follows, swallowing. After, he neatly pastes a yellow band-aid to the spot.

“There.” He leans away slightly. “You look…”

Sungchan smiles nervously.

Chenle blinks, looking like he’s registering an influx of thoughts, before the fingers still holding Sungchan’s cheek fall a little too belatedly. He clears his throat. “You look okay.”

“Thanks, Chenle,” he says, gingerly touching the band-aid.

Chenle stands up and spins around so fast to presumably to clean up the mess. “You’re welcome.”

“Motherf—“ Chenle nearly trips on air when Sungchan relays his first meeting with Donghyuck in verbatim, “Don’t mind him. I just mentioned it in passing while I was talking to him, that’s all. I didn’t even talk about it in detail. He’s just real nosy when it comes to BS,” he explains hastily, and when he sees Sungchan still-teetering expression, he grins teasingly, “Aw, don’t worry. I didn’t tell anyone that you’re blacklisted from my house.”

Sungchan retorts by playfully swiping at Chenle’s oddly red ears.

Chenle laughs and avoids his eyes.

Okay, so Chenle didn’t tell anyone. Or so he says.

At the cafeteria the next day, Sungchan gets ambushed.

“Sungchan!” Donghyuck waves gleefully, and Sungchan briefly considers pretending to not have 20/20 vision. “Sungchan, come over!”

Ah, but alas, there’s the fact that Donghyuck and his entire table are already looking at him with wide-eyed curiosity so he’s resigned to politely smiling and brushing off the strange feeling that he’s walking straight into the lion’s den as he redirects himself to their table.

“Sit down, sit down,” Donghyuck says, and Sungchan does in the seat closest to the exit. “Everyone, this is Jung Sungchan. Sungchan, this is everyone.”

An ash-haired boy squints at him. “Is he the—?”

“Yes, yes he is,” Donghyuck confirms dismissively. To Sungchan, he asks, “Where’s Chenle?”

“He’s in class,” Sungchan says.

“Wait, hey, what do you mean?” another boy asks, clueless eyes darting to Sungchan and everyone else in the table, “What do you mean he’s the—the what? You didn’t finish your sentence, Renjun.”

Donghyuck looks at him, unimpressed.

“What? Context, man.” He shakes his head. “Use it when you speak.”

Donghyuck points to him. “That’s Mark Lee. He’s old and it shows.” Ignoring Mark’s protests, he points at the boy from earlier and says, “That’s Huang Renjun, and you know me from yesterday. We’re Chenle’s friends.” He smiles at Sungchan. “I’m sure he has mentioned us, right?”

Sungchan inclines his head. “Not really.”

“He hasn’t?”

“He’s mentioned his group of friends in general,” he admits awkwardly and doesn’t add _to complain, mostly,_ “but I didn’t know your names before today. Other than Jisung’s, of course.”

Donghyuck huffs. “Ungrateful brat.”

Mark nudges Renjun’s side. “You know, I still didn’t get what you meant earlier. What did you say Sungchan was?”

Donghyuck sighs. Renjun shakes his head and says, “He’s the one who broke a wine glass in Chenle’s house. Do you understand now?”

“Oh,” Mark says, acknowledgement lighting up his eyes, “Oh! So that’s him,” he laughs, cheekbones lifted as he looks at Sungchan, and Sungchan fights not to squirm under their watchful eyes. “Wow.”

“Anyway,” Donghyuck expertly steers them away from the Mark-induced awkwardness, “Tell us more about you, Sungchan.”

Deadlines sweep the whole thing under the rug until they come across two more of Chenle’s friends in the library. They infiltrate the table with an unceremonious plop. One of them ruffles Chenle’s hair.

“Chenle!” he says happily.

“Jaemin-hyung,” Chenle says warily.

The other guy just smiles with his eyes. Acutely aware of the nature of Chenle’s friends, Sungchan forces a neutral expression on his face, appropriately polite but dimmed enough for him to appear unworthy of their attention. Hopefully.

It doesn’t work.

Jaemin casts him a look, then back at Chenle. “And this is?”

“My friend,” Chenle says immediately, “Go away, hyung, we’re studying.”

The other guy leans in to whisper something in Jaemin’s ear whose face reflects a myriad of expressions before settling into delight. “Oh!” his eyes light up, “The kid from the wine glass incident!”

Bright red, Chenle hisses, “What the hell, hyung?” as eye-smile laughs silently.

“Sungchan, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Jaemin grins cheekily. “I’ve heard all about you from Chenle—” he jerks, face contorting to pain, “and Jisung! Both Chenle and Jisung. Fuck.” He hisses at Chenle who ignores him to look at Sungchan with an innocent smile. “Anyway, I’m Jaemin and this is Jeno.”

Jeno flashes a peace sign. “’Sup.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” Sungchan greets, head dipping slightly.

“Polite,” Jaemin remarks, a look of approval on his face. “As much as I’d love to stay and get to know you, though, we kind of have to go. Have to study if I wanna stay in school to torment Chenle and Jisung, y’know?” He grins, ruffling Chenle’s hair again who grumpily swats his hand away. “Have fun, kids! It was nice meeting you, Sungchan-ah!” And he and Jeno slide out of their seats to leave them alone.

Chenle sighs. “Sorry about my friends. You know how they are.”

“It’s fine,” Sungchan says, “I got used to it yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

“I met Mark, Renjun, and Donghyuck-hyung,” he explains, and Chenle is immediately seized by a look of panic. “It wasn’t that bad. They just asked me questions about myself and stuff.” He pauses thoughtfully. “By the way, why do your friends keep calling me that?”

“Calling you what?”

“They know me as the guy who broke a wine glass in your house.”

Chenle laughs, visibly flustered. “Alright, I may have mentioned it to them but it’s not a big deal, I swear. They’re not making fun of you or anything.” He goes for light-hearted teasing, poking Sungchan’s cheek. “How’s the scar?”

“Healing. So quit it,” he says playfully, catching Chenle’s prodding hand. “Hey, am I really blacklisted from your house?”

“Do you want to be?”

“Of course not. I’d hate to not see Daegal again.”

Chenle scoffs, untangling their hands. “Of course you’d only want to visit because of Daegal even though she scratched your face.”

“Aw, I’m kidding,” Sungchan laughs, tugging Chenle’s hand back to him, chest bursting brightly at the seams, “You know I go there for you.” Everything bursts brighter when he sees Chenle smile. “So, am I still invited for a next time?”

Chenle snorts, still smiling. “Of course, loser. You can go anytime you want.”

Sungchan grins, and when they don’t let their hands go for a while, well—neither of them say anything about it.

Rewind a few months more and Sungchan meets Chenle for the first time. Park Jisung from Contemporary Literature introduces them to each other during lunch with a meek, “Chenle, this is my classmate Sungchan. Sungchan, this is my best friend, Chenle,” and Chenle grins at him with all the blinding enthusiasm of a freshman. Things come easy after that.

Liking Chenle feels natural—almost.

Jisung rises from his grave on a Thursday. When Sungchan sees him occupying what he almost thought would be an eternally empty seat next to him in class, he brightens. “Jisung! You’re back!”

Jisung lifts his heavy head from the table to sleepily wave.

“You sure you’re fully recovered?” Sungchan sits beside him with a laugh.

“I’m fine. Just sleepy,” Jisung assures, “Did I miss a lot?”

“Kinda but I took down notes for you.”

“Oh god, thank you,” he says, relieved. “I heard Mr Oh makes it hard for students who asks for soft copies of his Powerpoints so I was really worried about that.”

Class begins a little past ten. Sungchan scratches the now barely visible scar on his cheek and remembers. Tuning out their professor, he turns to Jisung and asks, a bit suspicious, “Aren’t you gonna ask me about last week?”

“What about last week?”

“You know, when I went to Chenle’s house. Have you heard about the wine glass incident?”

Jisung looks amused but doesn’t respond other than raising both his brows.

“Yeah, I broke a wine glass in his room,” he admits, not even embarrassed about it anymore. “Daegal jumped from the bed to my face and I accidentally dropped it. Did Chenle not tell you?”

Jisung laughs. “Nah, he did. I heard all about it.”

“And apparently your friends did too.”

“Woah, what? Chenle told them about it?” He looks perplexed. “Why?”

“He said he mentioned it,” Sungchan says, tilting his head. “Is it so surprising that he talked about it?”

“Not really, it’s just—” Jisung blinks then looks at Sungchan. “That’s… interesting,” he adds. “I really had no idea that he did because I’ve been MIA for the past week. You’re like the first person I’ve seen and properly talked to other than Chenle.”

Sungchan hums. “I met them too.”

“You’ve—what?”

“I met your friends,” he says. “Do you know they call me the guy who broke a wine glass in Chenle’s house?”

Laughter escapes Jisung’s mouth unwillingly. “ _What?_ ”

“You should probably catch up with them soon. Maybe then I’ll know why they keep calling me that.”

He snorts, a musing smile on his mouth. “You bet I will,” he says, looking ahead thoughtfully. Sungchan spins back in front and tunes back in to his passionate as ever professor.

Later, he asks Jisung to accompany him to the nearby convenience store and it’s clear that Jisung can’t keep his laughter to himself when they lock eyes.

“What?” Sungchan asks, laughing cluelessly with him.

“Nothing, I just—” he shakes his head, body trembling at every snort, “Sorry, I just met up with my friends a while ago and they filled me in on the entire thing.” When Sungchan asks him what’s so funny, Jisung just grins and pats his shoulder, cryptic as his other friends have been in the past week. “Nothing. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I have a problem,” Chenle says.

Sungchan doesn’t look up from what he’s typing. “Oh no.”

“ _We_ have a problem.”

“Oh no.” Sungchan finally looks at Chenle who looks like he’s either about to commit mass murder or pass out. “What’s wrong?”

Chenle takes a seat next to him. “My friends are chipping in to get food delivered later,” he says, and Sungchan raises an eyebrow. “They want me to drag you in too. We’re having lunch in the gardens.”

“Is this a this-breaks-campus-rules problem or a financial problem?”

“It’s a my-friends-are-loud-and-nosy-as-hell problem.”

Sungchan considers. “They’re not so bad.”

“Please.” Chenle rolls his eyes. “You haven’t seen them in full power. They’re worse when they’re all together.”

Sungchan looks at him. “Do you really not want me to meet your friends?”

“No! It’s not that. It’s just—”

“Hey, it’s alright, I won’t push you. If you really don’t want me to go, then it’s fine. You can just tell them I’m busy or something.”

Chenle considers, hesitant. “Are you sure you’re okay with going?”

“Only if you are.”

By the time Sungchan finishes a paragraph, Chenle reaches a decision. “Okay, fine, but I’m paying.” He narrows his eyes when Sungchan opens his mouth to protest. “No. Let me do this. As compensation for whatever disaster’s going to happen later.”

“Only this time,” Sungchan allows.

“Only this time,” Chenle agrees but they both know it’s far from the truth. “Oh god, I can already imagine the horror.”

Sungchan laughs. “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Please don’t say that.” Chenle winces. “That phrase is the precursor of every bad decision made on earth.”

Halfway past a thick fence of shrubs, Chenle turns around and tells him, “This is a bad idea.”

Sungchan laughs. “Of course it is. We’re basically trespassing.”

“That’s true so let’s leave,” he says, starting to march away but Sungchan catches his wrist.

“Where are you going?”

“Leaving.”

“But we’re already here,” Sungchan protests mildly. “Come on, it’s not that bad. Yangyang-hyung and his friends sometimes lunch here too and they’ve never been caught.”

Chenle casts him a look. “It’s not that.”

“Is it about your friends then? They’re not so bad. I already met all of them.” Sungchan tugs him backwards. “C’mon, we’re close.” As if on cue, a faint chorus of laughter rises from the shrubs. “I can already hear them.”

When Chenle remains resolutely still, Sungchan continues tugging.

Finally, Chenle sighs loudly. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Sungchan grins, successfully spinning him back around. “Let’s gooo,” he cheers, both hands on a frowning Chenle’s shoulders, propelling him forward. They enter through a clearing between the shrubs which he’s pretty sure have been carved there by students as devious as they are. Everyone who Chenle has called the bane of his existence at least once in his life sit on a clearly stolen blanket from the student lounge.

They all stop to look—of course.

Sungchan is suddenly hyperaware of his proximity to Chenle but before he can drop his hands and keep his distance to dismiss the odd looks on Chenle’s friends’ faces, Donghyuck grins and says, “Well, well.”

One, Chenle forcefully seats Sungchan between him and Jisung (“ _Hey, welcome to the club,”_ Jisung had grinned at him), barks at them to get to ordering, and wordlessly pays for Sungchan’s share all the while avoiding everyone’s stares.

Two, the order finally arrives after ten minutes of cryptic conversations with compressed smiles and indirect mentions of _the wine glass incident_ and _Sungchan the wine guy_ so Chenle purposefully sends Sungchan to get the order, his furious whispering to _stop making Sungchan uncomfortable!!!_ rising behind the shrubs even as Sungchan walks further away.

Three, whatever he said or did must’ve worked because when Sungchan comes back, the conversation is smoother and less-stifling, enough for him to start talking and laughing more.

(They’re not so bad, really.)

Four—

“I’m gonna adopt him,” Donghyuck announces.

Chenle snorts, “He’s way taller. If anything, he should be adopting _you_ ,” and barely escapes when Donghyuck throws a chicken bone his way.

“Don’t listen to him, Sungchan,” Donghyuck sighs, “He’s just jealous.” Chenle throws back the pitiful chicken bone this time with terrible aim. “What do you say, Sungchan? I take you in and we can both bully Chenle into buying us lunch every day and letting us visit Daegal.”

“Sounds like a pretty neat deal,” Sungchan grins, and accepts Donghyuck’s high five.

Chenle sticks his nose up in the air. “I’m blackmailing you both from my house.”

“Oh no, what shall I do?” Donghyuck feigns fainting and falls back to Jaemin’s arms. “No more Daegal visits.”

“Aw, but I remember you clearly saying I could go anytime I want,” Sungchan teases and that must’ve struck something because the rest let out surprised snorts of laughter and Chenle colors.

Chenle stammers, interestingly. “I did—I don’t—”

“Pitiful, Chenle,” Jaemin drawls, Donghyuck still in his arms dying from laughter at seeing Chenle making a fool of himself. “Really, really pitiful.”

“It’s the wine glass incident all over again,” Jeno whispers, amused, to Renjun.

Sungchan feels like he should know exactly what’s happening but he essentially doesn’t. Seeing his clueless smile, Mark pats his knee as if to reassure but it just feels the exact opposite.

During class directly after lunch, Sungchan turns to Jisung and asks, “What’s up with the wine glass incident? I feel like there’s more meaning to it than I should know.”

Jisung hums. “You should probably ask Chenle about it when you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Actually, you should ask when you’re both ready,” Jisung muses, and Sungchan frowns, repeating his question but Jisung just spares him a quick smile and pours his attention to the discussion, not answering.

Sungchan was really, only supposed to drop by to borrow some of Chenle’s mom’s ancient textbooks for finals and immediately leave. But when he steps outside he looks up, book in hand and nothing else, and says, “Oh.”

Chenle instinctively steps back from the flooded porch. “Jesus.”

“Do you have like,” Sungchan bites his lip, “an umbrella or something?”

“Yeah.” Chenle blinks at the weeping sky. “But I doubt that’s gonna help much.”

“Well—”

“Are you sure you wanna walk in the rain?”

“I mean—”

“At night?”

“It’s not that—"

“All alone with a two-pound book and the train station a ten-minute walk away?” Chenle raises an eyebrow, daring Sungchan to protest further. “Get back inside. You can stay and wait for the rain to go away.”

Sungchan looks back inside—the house warmth-swathed. “Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Of course,” Chenle says, smiling, opening the door a bit wider. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Chenle lets him hog the couch. Daegal emerges from another dimension (really, Sungchan had no idea where she came from) and stands full height to excitedly paw at his knees. Sungchan laughs and picks her up.

“Careful,” Chenle teases, looking at them, “She scratches when she’s excited. Wouldn’t want another scar on that face of yours, hm?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Sungchan grins, petting Daegal. “You’ll be there to fix me up anyway.”

Chenle looks away, snorting, but Sungchan doesn’t miss the upturned corners of his mouth. He puts the pup down and Daegal goes between them happily, nipping at their shirts. Sungchan suddenly remembers and asks, “What’s up with the wine glass incident?”

“What about it?”

“Dunno,” Sungchan shrugs. “I just feel like it’s an entirely different thing whenever your friends talk about it,” he says, looking at Chenle who very infinitesimally freezes. “Like there’s something to it? I don’t know. Jisung said I could ask you about it.”

Chenle slowly blinks. “He said that?”

“Yeah, he said I should ask when we’re both ready, actually,” he says. “It’s not a bad thing is it?” He looks at Chenle and worries when he remains unspeaking. “Chenle?”

Chenle’s face tectonically shifts from casual to repressed-panic-casual to the worst yet at the same time the most impressive faux casual face Sungchan has ever seen in his life. He takes a deep breath, swears at Jisung and the rest of his friends under his breath, and finally looks at Sungchan to say, “I think I need a drink.”

“When you said you needed a drink, I thought you meant water,” Sungchan says, watching Chenle help himself to a glass of wine. “Can you tell me now why you need to get wine-drunk to answer my question?”

“I’m not drunk yet so I can’t tell you,” Chenle grumbles.

Sungchan shakes his head when Chenle proffers his glass. “Is it really so bad?”

“It is,” Chenle sighs. “I could easily lie but I don’t know if I want to.” He taps his fingers on the rim of glass, taps his foot just as restless on the bar stool. “But at the same time I don’t really know if I want to tell you just yet.”

“It’s alright. I won’t force you if you don’t want to.”

Chenle doesn’t answer. Instead, he just takes a huge sip of his wine. “You don’t have to like it, you know,” Sungchan says, watching him hide his grimace. “Just because you’re legally an adult doesn’t mean you have to try to do adult things.”

“You’re right,” Chenle says seriously. “I should remember that when I finally start paying taxes.”

Sungchan laughs. “You know that’s not what I mean!”

Chenle curves his smile against the glass. He seems to contemplate for a bit before asking, “What do you think my friends mean when they talk about the wine glass incident?”

“I’m not sure.” Sungchan shakes his head. “There must be something about it I wasn’t aware of but you told your friends about.”

“Smart,” Chenle remarks, “but not too smart.”

Sungchan shoves him lightly. “Hey!”

“Kidding,” he grins. “You’re right that it does mean something though, if my friend’s reactions are any indication.” When Sungchan just looks on cluelessly, he sighs loudly, something close to a flush creeping up his neck. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“Doing what?”

Chenle just sips his wine.

“Hey, what do you mean?”

“They tease me every time you’re around, Sungchan. Can’t you put two and two together?”

Sungchan’s thoughts screech to a halt.

Chenle peeks at his face, putting his glass down. “Finally realized it?”

“I don’t…” Sungchan feels himself elevate but keeps himself down in case— “I don’t know if I’m—"

“Well, whatever you’re thinking, you’re probably right. Unless you think I hate you or something. In that case, you’re stupid.”

Sungchan laughs despite himself. “Well, okay, let’s say that whatever I’m assuming is right, what does this have to do with the wine glass incident?”

“It made me finally admit… things,” Chenle says, cheeks reddening, “both to myself and to my friends. Jisung always said I was just in denial and I kept on telling him I wasn’t which, really, was a sign of denial itself.” Sungchan feels his heart soar. “I told my friends about my, uh, realization during the wine glass incident the day after and they’ve been treating it like a monumental event since.”

“They’ve been calling me as the guy who broke a wine glass, too.”

“Yeah, it’s code for—” he stops, flushes, “yeah. You know what I mean.” He groans, burying his burning face in his hands. “Sorry, fuck. Don’t hate me please.”

Sungchan’s heart kite-flies further into the ether. “Can’t you put two and two together as well, Zhong Chenle?”

Chenle peeks from his fingers.

“I chose you over a cute puppy,” he teases lightly, tugging Chenle’s hand away from his face. “That’s a pretty big deal, you know.”

“…I don’t know if this means what I think it means.”

“It does,” he says, Chenle letting him pull his hand closer, tangling their fingers together. He squeezes Chenle’s hand. “Is this evidence enough for you?”

Chenle looks at him, unbelieving.

He laughs. “I’m gonna say the thing you’ve been avoiding saying since earlier,” he says, letting their hands go, “Chenle-yah, just for the record, just in case you still haven’t gotten it through your head, I like you back.”

Chenle is the one who knocks his hand over the wine glass _and_ the wine bottle this time.

Renjun throws his head back, laughing.

“Fuck,” Donghyuck takes in a huge gasp of breath, “Oh man, I wish I was there to witness it.” His face scrunches, remembering, and he laughs again. “Real smooth, Zhong Chenle, real smooth.”

Sungchan grins, watching the entire table. Beside him, Mark is probably close to breaking his rib from laughter. Jisung snickers quietly until he suddenly says, “Oh hey, Chenle!” and everyone turns to see him standing in front of the table, arms crossed.

“Hey, Chenle,” Renjun grins, “How have you been?”

“Yeah, any _breaking_ news you want to tell us?” Donghyuck snorts, and they all burst into laughter again. Chenle gapes then his eyes flash murderously to Sungchan when he realizes. Sungchan just grins and pulls him down to sit beside him.

“Hey,” he laughs, pressing his smile to Chenle’s cheek, “How was class?”

**Author's Note:**

> happy holidays everyone!


End file.
